Not Again!
by CMDonovann
Summary: So Todd broke up with Claudia in the first half of the crossover... What if Fargo dumped her in the second half? Chaos would ensue, huh? EXACTLY! That's what this fic is about. Please R&R! I loved writing this story and you'll love reading it! Maybe :D
1. Emotional Pain and Loud Music

**This takes place after the two crossover episodes: W13 and EUReKA. Disclaimer: I do not own either! I also do not own "Time is Running Out" by Muse.**

**Spoilers for... well, anything about H. G. Wells, I guess. But only someone who hasn't been watching the new season would not know about her, so...**

**HEY! WAIT A MINUTE! READ THIS NEXT BIT, OKAY?**

**Oh! Some important info you must know! I have not yet seen the EUReKA crossover half. This is happening after what I _think_ should have happened. Claudia's relationship-wise, anyways. She was dumped by Todd in the W13 half of the crossover; what if, at the end of the EUReKA half, Fargo dumped her, too? Chaos would ensue, huh? EXACTLY! That is what this fic is about.**

Prologue

Claudia was in the Warehouse, as usual, doing inventory. She had a pair of huge black headphones on and was singing loudly to the music blasting from them.

"Bury it, I won't let you bury it, I won't let you smother it, I won't let you murder it. Our time is running out! Our time is running out! You can't push it underground! You can't stop it screaming out! How did it come to this? Ooh-ooh-ooh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!"

"Claudia, will you _please_ be quiet!" Artie shouted at her from the Warehouse office. She didn't hear, though, she was far too busy trying to drown out her emotional pain with the loudest, most annoying music she owned. Artie certainly thought it was annoying, anyway. She loved it.

"Claudia!" Artie shouted again. She still didn't hear, though. "For god's sake..." Artie muttered to himself as he got up, stomped out the door and down the stairs, and walked up behind Claudia.

"CLAUDIA!" Claudia jumped a foot in the air and spun around, yanking her headphones off and brandishing a table lamp.

"Oh. Artie. Hi." Claudia immediately looked embarrassed and stared down at her feet. "I, uh, didn't hear you." She put the lamp back on one of the shelves.

"You wouldn't have. You're gonna make yourself go deaf with that!" He gestured toward the headphones, which were still blasting Muse very loudly. Artie sighed. "What's wrong, Claudia?"

"Wrong? With me? What makes you think something is wrong?" She asked. "Did Leena tell you my 'aura' was looking bad?" She did air quotes around the word "aura".

"You're not still upset about that, are you?" Artie frowned.

"Huh? No. No, I'm not mad at Leena." Claudia shook her head. They both stood there in relative silence for a moment.

"Artie?"

"Yes?"

"Please go away now."

Artie stared at her for a moment, then turned and left. Claudia put her headphones back on and turned the volume down a little. She glanced around nervously, then pulled a folded-up flyer out of her pocket. She had found it on the window when she'd gone back to the hardware store where Todd worked. It was an add for a new dance club an hour or two away from Univille. The grand opening was tonight, and Claudia had no intention of missing a chance to do something fun that wasn't at all related to the Warehouse. She had already "borrowed" Artie's car keys; it was as simple as sneaking out of the B&B sometime after dinner tonight.

Piece of cake.


	2. Movie Night and Sleeping Gas

**HEY! WAIT A MINUTE! READ THIS, OKAY?**

**Some important info you must know! I have not yet seen the EUReKA crossover half. This is happening after what I _think_ should have happened. Claudia's relationship-wise, anyways. She was dumped by Todd in the W13 half of the crossover; what if, at the end of the EUReKA half, Fargo dumped her, too? Chaos would ensue, huh? EXACTLY! That is what this fic is about.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own W13 or Eureka or anything. (except the plot- keep off!) If I did, I wouldn't be writing this, it'd be an actual (amazing!) episode! Deal!**

Claudia had MapQuest-ed the route to the club- it took an hour and forty-five minutes to get there, if traffic was light. She figured since the opening was at ten, she would have to be out of the B&B by seven-thirty or eight, just in case. That left a little less than two hours to get ready and think of an excuse to get out of there if Artie or Leena were to question her.

By the time seven-thirty rolled around, she was extremely nervous. She was also wearing a very short jean miniskirt, sparkly black leggings, hot pink high-tops, a black top with a rose dripping paint or blood or something of that sort on it, and a pink plaid jacket. The streak in her hair was hot pink.

After taking one last look in the mirror, Claudia opened the door to her room _very quietly_ and tiptoed down the steps. Myka and Pete were having movie night in Pete's room on his new flatscreen and Artie and Leena were still back at the Warehouse, so she knew it was probably safe. Still, she froze when she heard a clatter in the kitchen, until she looked halfway in the door and realized it was Myka's ferret trying to get at the latest batch of cookies Leena had made.

"Ohmigod." Claudia breathed a sigh of relief and continued on until she smashed into Pete coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn.

"Claudia!"

"Pete! Hi." Claudia said. "What movie are you guys watching?"

"Indiana Jones. Wanna come watch? Popcorn." He held the bowl out temptingly, but Claudia shook her head.

"Nah. Got a party to crash."

"Yeah, good luck with that. Artie know?"

"Nope."

"Well, then, have fun."

"Yeah. Rock on." She managed a smile before waving and ducking out the front door. It slammed ominously behind her. She pulled the keys to the truck out of her pocket and shoved them into the door, wrenching it open angrily. She wasn't even sure what she was mad about... maybe for not having a decent excuse to tell Pete, though he didn't really care if she was crashing a party. Probably thought she was being sarcastic.

"Whatever." Claudia muttered to herself, shoving the keys into the ignition and pulling the flyer and directions out of her other pocket. "Dude, gotta get outta here. Warehouse is getting to your brain. See, you're talking to yourself! Not good. That means you're getting crazy again. Do NOT want to end up back in the bell jar." She continued muttering to herself as she pulled out of the B&B driveway and onto the road. By the time she reached the highway, she was arguing with herself.

"It's so not your fault Todd and Fargo both dumped you. Oh, yeah, well what if it is? What if there's an artifact that makes it impossible to hold down a boyfriend? Bet there is. I'll bet those spider-bot things Fargo had set it on you, and now you'll be single forever! Dammit, Claudia, what's wrong with you?"

The rest of her hour and forty-five minute drive went much like this, until she finally freaked herself out enough to turn on the ancient car radio and start singing along to the first song she recognized.

…

"Hey." Artie said as he knocked on the frame of Pete's open door and entered. The end of _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade _was on, almost at the credits, and Myka and Pete were sitting on the floor watching.

"Hey, we were just about to put in _The Crystal Skull._ You wanna watch?" Pete grinned and held up the half-empty bowl of popcorn. "There's a little popcorn left."

"Uh... yeah, sure." Artie shrugged, taking the bowl of popcorn and sitting down on the edge of Pete's bed. "Where's Claudia? She usually watches movies, right? Is something wrong with her?"

"Artie, chill, man. Claudia had to go out. Besides, she doesn't even like this movie." Pete said exasperatedly.

"You've been a little... You know, overprotective of her lately." Myka remarked.

Artie stared at the two of them. "...What? No. No I haven't," he protested, "I'm just kind of... worried about her. You two don't think she's been acting... odd, lately?"

Myka nodded. "You don't know why, do you?"

Artie shook his head. Pete said, "you mean _you _know what's wrong with her?"

"Yeah. It's probably better that she tells you two herself, though. If she wants to." Myka shrugged and pressed the _eject_ button on Pete's DVD player. She took the first movie out and put _Crystal Skull_ in. "You guys want more popcorn?"

"Yeah!" Pete said enthusiastically, grabbing the popcorn bowl from Artie and giving it to Myka. "Extra salt!" Pete called as Myka left the room. The movie began and discussion of Claudia was all but forgotten in the heroics of _Indiana Jones._

…

Claudia arrived at _The Firefly,_ the new club, exactly five minutes early. There was already a long line of teenagers and people in their early twenties waiting at the door, talking and laughing and chatting. Claudia, unfortunately, saw a familiar face in the crowd.

_Todd._

"Ohmigod. No!" Claudia whispered, ducking behind her car. "God. Why does he have to be here?" She bit her lip and felt tears coming, then forced them back as a new thought surfaced in her head. _No. Go have fun. Show him you're better off without him._

With a new determination, Claudia stepped out from behind the car and stuck her hands in her pockets; walked forward, head up, shoulders thrown back confidently. She didn't make eye contact with anyone as she paced to the back of the line and stood there, pretending to talk on her cell phone.

"Yeah? No. I'm at _The Firefly._ Yeah. No, it hasn't opened yet. There's a line. Yeah. Admission is ten dollars. You coming? 'Kay, bye." Claudia pretended to hang up.

"Hi." The voice from behind Claudia startled her, and she spun around to face...

"Todd!" Claudia couldn't help it, her eyes got very wide and her mouth hung open, gaping. "I, um, how did you, um, why are you, y'know, here?" Claudia babbled out. _Where are his glasses and... stuff?_ She wondered.

"Uh, sorry, didn't catch that last bit?" He looked down at her with an expression of mild amusement.

"What are you _doing_ here?" Claudia hissed.

"Getting away from Univille." He shrugged. "Why? What are _you_ doing here?"

"Uh, trying to get away from you." Claudia countered harshly. She immediately regretted it. _Ooh, that's cold. Bad Claudia._

"Oh. I'll just, um..." Todd pointed lamely at the back of the line and trudged off.

"No, but I... Oh, geez, I'm such an idiot." Claudia muttered. Just then the line started moving and she was ushered into the club in a rush of people eager to see the place. She paid the ten dollar admission and entered; she was immediately hit with a wave of warm air. She honestly hadn't noticed how chilly it was outside.

The inside of the club was exactly how one would expect the inside of a dance club to look like- dimly- lit with strobe lights and disco balls and stuff over the dance floor; posters all over the walls and a few tables and chairs, which were rapidly being piled up with jackets and purses; a bar that served soda and snacks as well as alcoholic beverages.

There was a band on stage that Claudia didn't recognize, but they had a girl and a guy on vocals as well as two guys on guitar and two girls on bass and drums. They hadn't started playing yet, but there was loud music pumping from two speakers on either side of the room. Claudia didn't recognize the song but joined the group of people already dancing. No one noticed her, which was excellent- she did _not_ want to be bothered.

After a while the band started playing: they weren't bad, and it was very loud. Claudia didn't feel at all out of place here, which was awesome. She picked up a few awesome dance moves from a guy who everyone appeared to know and like. The band played three songs before taking a break, and the DJ put on a slow song.

"Ugh." Claudia muttered. She did recognize the song- "Apologize," by OneRepublic. She liked the song a little, but wasn't at all in the mood for sappy-type stuff. She pushed her way through the crowd, not even stopping when she spotted Todd talking to another girl.

"Hey, where's the bathroom?" Claudia asked the bartender-guy. She had to shout for him to hear her over the music.

"Over there, but there's probably a line." the guy pointed over to the left. Claudia hurried over.

There wasn't a line, and she ducked into the bathroom and locked the door. Looking in the mirror, she sighed at her reflection. There was a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead from the past twenty minutes of nonstop dancing. The dark circles under her eyes from her lack of sleep as of late were visible now, since most of her cover-up had come off.

"Jeez." She said, hanging her head tiredly. _No wonder the two geekiest guys on earth dumped me in the past week, _she thought sadly.

Suddenly someone appeared, seemingly from nowhere, behind Claudia. They put a rag covered with some sort of sweet-smelling sleeping gas over her mouth and nose. She struggled, but passed out in a few seconds. She collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"Well, that wasn't too hard." H. G. Wells said cheerfully, stepping over Claudia's unconscious form to check her hair in the mirror. She carefully adjusted a small rectangular locket around her neck.

"Now for part two."


	3. Missing Persons and Boy Trouble

**HEY! WAIT A MINUTE! READ THIS, OKAY?**

**Some important info you must know! I have not yet seen the EUReKA crossover half. This is happening after what I _think_ should have happened. Claudia's relationship-wise, anyways. She was dumped by Todd in the W13 half of the crossover; what if, at the end of the EUReKA half, Fargo dumped her, too? Chaos would ensue, huh? EXACTLY! That is what this fic is about.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own W13 or Eureka or anything. (except the plot- keep off!) If I did, I wouldn't be writing this, it'd be an actual (amazing!) episode! Deal!**

It was past midnight. Claudia was not back from wherever she was. Pete had said earlier that she had talked about having a "party to crash." At first Artie had thought this was Claudia's ever-constant sarcasm rearing it's not-so-much-ugly-as-mildly-annoying head, but now he was worried.

Artie worried was never a good sign.

He got up off the sofa in the living room of the B&B and walked as quietly up the steps as possible. After a moment of trying to remember which door was Myka's, he knocked.

"Myka?"

There was a slight shuffling from behind the closed door before it was opened a crack to reveal Myka, clutching a pink bathrobe around her shoulders.

"Hey, Artie. What's wrong?" she asked softly, brushing a wisp of her wildly curly brown hair out of her eyes.

"Why_ has_ Claudia been so upset lately, Myka?"

Myka stared for a moment before sighing and shaking her head. "Artie, she's a young woman now. If she wants you to know, she'll tell you herself." Myka began to close the door.

"No, you don't understand. She's missing."

Myka stopped, her eyes wide. "What?"

"She left around eight, according to Pete. It is now," he looked at his watch, "twelve twenty, and I'm seriously worried about her." Artie explained- frantic, yet still managing to whisper.

"Oh," Myka said; then, as if realizing something, "ohhhh, no."

"What? What is it?" Artie demanded quietly.

"Todd dumped her. Then that Fargo guy from Global Dynamics did, too."

"Do you think she...?" Artie trailed off, not even wanting to contemplate what the extremely hormonal nineteen-year-old could or would have done.

"I think we should check her room."

…

When Claudia came to she was still lying on the floor of _The Firefly_'s spacious bathroom. Unfortunately, she had been tied up at both hands and feet while she was unconscious. Claudia groaned.

"Good. You're finally awake." Said a harsh female voice with an English accent. "We've only been waiting an hour."

_We?_ Claudia thought. She looked up and saw H. G. Wells and Todd. Todd was also tied up, and Wells had a grip on the back of his shirt. _Oh, that's bad. Ohhhhh, no._

"Now. Pay attention. Do you see this?" Wells held up a small silver locket. "Do you know what it does?" Claudia tried to shake her head, but it hurt, so she just said, "no." Wells smiled charmingly. "Well, then, you _must_ try it out."

Claudia tried to kick Wells, but did not succeed. She just stepped over Claudia and grabbed her by the back of her shirt, pulling her up to stand next to Todd.

H. G. Wells tried to pull the locket's chain over Claudia's head, unsuccessfully. Claudia, being unable to hit or kick Wells, simply fell on top of her.

"Really, dear, please try to be reasonable." Wells intoned. She put her hands on her hips. "I know you've been having 'boy trouble' lately. I'm trying to help. Really."

She unhooked the clasp on the locket and put it around Claudia's neck. The second she closed the clasp and dropped it onto Claudia's chest, it glowed a bright reddish-pink color.

"What the hell?" Todd said, staring at it.

"Did I tell you to speak?" Wells demanded of him. He looked very scared. Wells slapped him and he fell to the floor.

"Todd!" Claudia said. "You... freak." Claudia shot angrily at H. G. Wells. She spit in Wells' face.

"For goodness sake, Claudia. I'm trying to help you. Don't you feel it? The power? The control?" Wells smiled.

It was true. Claudia felt... Confident. Powerful. Sexy. Like she was the hottest girl on earth, like she was in total control. "Whoa."

"You see?" Wells smiled again and untied Claudia's hands and feet.

"Yeah." Claudia grinned. Todd groaned and tried to get up.

"Aww, geez, dude. Todd, you okay?"

"Uh..." He looked up at her as she untied his hands. The second he was free, he grabbed Claudia and pulled her down to kiss her.

"What the heck was that?" Claudia asked, flustered. Todd just stared at her.

"_Now_ you see, don't you?" Wells said. "That locket makes you completely irresistible to the opposite sex."

"Oh, well that's great." Claudia said, trying to stand up. Todd pulled her back down on top of him.

"Yeah, it is."

"Oh my god!" Claudia pushed Todd away from her and got up. "Seriously?" She tried to take off the locket, but it was stuck around her neck. It would _not_ come off.

"Oh, yes, and I'm the only one that knows how to get it off." Wells said cheerily. "Well, I'll leave you to it, then. Toodle-oo!" She wiggled her fingers and ducked out of the door before Claudia could get her hands on her. She tried to pull the door back open, but it was stuck.

"Dammit!" Claudia banged her forehead against the door. Todd, who had come up behind her again, put his arms around her waist, pressing his face into her hair.

"I thought you said you couldn't see me anymore, Todd." Claudia said quietly.

"I'm really sorry I said that." He replied, kissing the back of her neck, where the locket chain was. It gave Claudia an idea.

"Hey, Todd, see if you can get this locket off." She said.

"Alright." He tried to unlock the clasp. It shocked him.

"Ouch!"

"I guess that's a no?"


End file.
